Volume 31 Chapter 2 (1/2)

As I furthered my education into university, I thought about changing my personality, to see what that would be like.

It wasn't as though I disliked who I was, or my life had become troublesome, or anything like that.

It wasn't really for any particular reason.

Maybe I was just getting a bit tired of it.

Upon reflection, it seemed like I'd been playing the role of the ”accommodating honors student” for a very long time - from the time I first parted from my parents to join society at large in kindergarten. So my connection to that ident.i.ty stretched back about 12 or 13 years. It was a good fit for me, but regrettably it just went on for too long.

People amend their personality countless times over the course of their life, and occasionally they have the opportunity to change it completely. Like when they have to change schools after moving interstate, or when they enter into university, or start a new job. Starting a new life in an environment where n.o.body knows who you have been up until that point provides that chance.

Yet I'd graduated from high school without being able to do that.

When I entered into primary school, I'd been so young that I hadn't considered changing my personality.

My best chance probably came when I pa.s.sed the entrance exam for, and was accepted into, a private middle school, as there were hardly any of my former cla.s.smates from primary school there. But following the recommendation of Torii Eriko, who later became my dear friend, I accepted the position of cla.s.s representative to the student council, and any departure from that ident.i.ty was stifled. But thinking about it now, even being the ”indifferent cla.s.s representative” or the ”mocking cla.s.s representative” would have been better. I'd been under the mistaken impression that a cla.s.s representative had to act as some kind of mediator in the cla.s.s, so naturally I regulated my behavior. It was still a mystery to me how my personality had been so apparent to Eriko, who hadn't even been a pa.s.sing acquaintance of mine at the time.

High school was a continuation of middle school, so I was constantly surrounded by people I knew. Suddenly changing my personality would result in me being told ”You're acting strange today, Youko-san,” and then being taken to the school infirmary.

So I decided to turn over a new leaf, and show a different me to the new friends I made at university.

But having said that, it's no simple task to create a new personality from scratch. I decided to sample the people closest to me, and start by imitating them. The idiosyncrasies of any one person would be too much, so I went with a mixture of two people.

The nonchalance of my dear friend Satou Sei, and the friendliness of my darling grand pet.i.t soeur, f.u.kuzawa Yumi-chan.

Still, it didn't go as well as I'd imagined.

”Umm, Mizuno-san.”

At lunchtime, as I was eating Set Meal B in the cafeteria, two of my cla.s.smates approached me.

”Did you go to the first-period maths lecture?”

If there had been any vulnerable male students nearby, they may have got the mistaken impression that, ”Those girls like me.” But their cute wave had absolutely no effect on me.

”I did, why do you ask?”

I'd spent the six years of middle and high school at an all-girls school. I had a fair idea what these girls were going to say next.

”Sorry about this, but can I take a copy of your notes?”

See, there it is.

” &h.e.l.lip; I guess that's okay.”

I set down my chopsticks, took my notebook out of my largish shoulder bag and handed it over. Belatedly, I remembered to put on my smiling face. Friendly, friendly.

”Waa - you saved me. I'll copy it during the lunch break then give it back to you in cla.s.s.”

The two girls hastily exited the cafeteria. I looked at the clock. It was 15 minutes until the end of the lunch break.

In order to snap the half-awake students to attention, the professor had packed the first-period maths cla.s.s densely with material, so my notes covered about four pages and mainly consisted of equations and graphs. There was no way those two would be able to transcribe all that in the remaining time.

(Obviously, photocopy.)

I let out a small sigh. If you're going to borrow my notebook until the next maths cla.s.s, how about at least writing it in your own book? Or show up to cla.s.s without makeup on, instead of spending so much time diligently applying cosmetics.

(Quit it.)

I hated my tendency to waver about these kind of things.

If it was going to annoy me, then I shouldn't lend people my notebook. If I'm going to lend people my notebook, then don't complain. I'm going to all this effort trying to change my personality. So why am I still the serious honors student?

And if I was supposed to be using Sei as my model, she probably wouldn't be the one lending the book, but the one borrowing it.

(Borrowing &h.e.l.lip; ?)

No, that would be pointless. Skipping out on a cla.s.s for no reason would just increase my stress. I stirred the remaining seaweed in vinegar with my chopsticks.

”Mizuno-san.”

Hearing my name called, I looked up and saw a different cla.s.smate of mine seated across the table from me.

”You were in the first-period maths cla.s.s, right?”

”Ah, if you want my notebook, it's currently - ”

I remembered just after I'd said that. She'd been in the cla.s.sroom during first period as well.

”No, I was there. So I don't need to copy your notebook.”

Short, wavy hair and black gla.s.ses on a face free from makeup. Her physical appearance was completely different, but for some reason she left a similar impression to Yumi-chan.

”You're always there, Mizuno-san. At every cla.s.s. Even when they're not taking attendance, first period, fifth period, a perfect attendance record.”

Talking about perfect attendance when it's still only May, I thought to myself as I struggled to come up with a response.

”I'm aware of that.”

She had a perfect attendance record too. From memory, her name was Kawatou-san. She smiled as she said:

”Right. Diligence itself is admirable.”

Kawatou-san counted on her fingers.

”There's also Himura-san and Tokunaga-san. Since all four of us are so diligent, why don't we become friends?”

The other two were also women. It seemed like there was also a guy with a perfect attendance record, but it seemed kind of pitiful to have four girls and only one guy, so I wasn't going to mention it.

”&h.e.l.lip; Okay?”

As I answered, I remembered. The sort of people that Himura-san and Tokunaga-san were.

Right, right. Despite Himura-san's eye-catching appearance, with an artistic hairstyle that could almost be called an afro and quite extreme make-up and fas.h.i.+on, she spoke with a quiet, subdued voice. Tokunaga-san had a rough appearance, always wearing masculine jeans and T-s.h.i.+rts. She never wore any makeup, and her face looked like a boy's, but she'd never be mistaken for a man because of her long hair that she wore in a ponytail and her surprisingly large b.r.e.a.s.t.s for such a slender frame.

”Great. It's a bit sudden, but how about today? Third period's your last, right? After that, at a cafe out front of the train station.”

Kawatou-san said the name of the shop was ”Mole Cafe 2” but, sadly, I'd never heard of it.

”I'll draw you a quick map later.”

”Thanks.”

It probably would have been better if I walked with her to this place, but apparently we were all going to meet there.

”Since we're such a diligent group, there's no alcohol. The drinking age is 20. And since we're studying law, it wouldn't be right for us to break the law, you know. Ah, unless you've already reached the legal drinking age, Mizuno-san?”

”No, I'm still underage.”

”I see. You seem so calm and collected that I thought you might be older.”

Calm and collected, huh. It looked like I was a long way from becoming Satou Sei or f.u.kuzawa Yumi.

”I guess we should make a reservation for the cafe.”

”Ah, I'll leave that up to you then, sorry.”

Back in high school, I would have offered to help out in some way, but this time around I firmly resisted.

”It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm used to that kind of thing.”

”That kind of thing?”

”Being an organizer or committee member. Those kind of roles always seem to fall to me.”

It looked like Kawatou-san was my compatriot, in some regards.

”Well, I've got to go. I have to talk to Himura-san and Tokunaga-san too.”

”If &h.e.l.lip; ”

If you just wait ten minutes, you'll see them in cla.s.s and you won't have to go looking for them, was what I was going to say to Kawatou-san, but she'd already left. Since they were so diligent, Himura-san and Tokunaga-san wouldn't miss the next cla.s.s. Probably.

The 'Mole Cafe 2' near the train station was underground. Right beside a florist there was a flight of stairs leading down to a door decorated with vines. When the quartet had fully a.s.sembled, we entered the store. However.

”Huh?”

The cafe was full. We'd arrived in time for 3 o'clock tea-time, and the cafe was full of older ladies leisurely chatting as they had tea and cake. Mole Cafe 2 had about ten tables that could seat four people.

”But I made a reservation.”

Kawatou-san desperately pleaded.

”Kawatou-san, Kawatou-san &h.e.l.lip; Here it is. Four people, at 5:00.”

The male employee said, looking through the reservation book.

”Not 5:00, 15:00. I said 3pm.”

15:00 and 5:00. It was probably hard to tell the difference over the phone. A simple mistake. If they'd bothered to repeat the time to confirm it - well, no point saying anything about that now.

”5:00 &h.e.l.lip; hmm.”

”I have a part-time job as a tutor in the evening.”

The vibe coming from Himura-san and Tokunaga-san was to reschedule. I didn't really care either way, but Kawatou-san looked like she was about to burst into tears so, against my better judgment, I spoke up.

”But we wouldn't have to wait until 5:00, I'm sure a s.p.a.ce will open up sooner or later. After all, this place isn't by-reservation only.”

Luckily, there weren't any other customers waiting to be seated. Ten tables is ten tables, and it's hard to think that they'd all stay there for an hour, let alone two. And there were customers that had already finished their cakes.

”Since we came all the way here, why don't we wait a while? Tokunaga-san, what time did you have to leave?”

”5pm I guess... Alright, I'll stay a bit longer.”

After Tokunaga-san said this, Himura-san nodded slightly and said, ”Okay,” too.

”Thank-you.”

Then I turned to the employee from before and said:

”Excuse me, is it alright if we take a look at the menu while we wait?”

This was done to optimize the limited time we had, but it was probably overkill. Even if I hadn't asked, Kawatou-san surely would have.

My reading of the situation had been correct, and within ten minutes we were led to a table. Since we'd already looked over the menu, the ordering process went smoothly, so in the end we didn't lose much time. Also, we were given a free plate of cookies by the manager as an apology for the mix up, and at that point we all agreed we were glad we stayed.

”I wonder if I could take mine with me.”

Tokunaga-san wrapped up three of the small cookies in a paper napkin.

She'd ordered a cake-set, so it didn't appear as though she disliked sweets. Besides, if she didn't like them, she'd probably offer them to everyone else instead of taking them home as a souvenir.

”To eat with your students?”

I asked. If so, I was going to offer her my share of the cookies as well.

”Students?”

Tokunaga-san repeated.

”From here, you're going to your job as a tutor, right?”

”Ah, right. Yeah. You've got a good memory, Mizuno-san.”

This response didn't feel all that inviting. It was probably better not to probe into this topic too deeply - at least, that's what I thought.

”What are you tutoring? How many students do you have? Boys? Girls?”

Kawatou-san's interest had been piqued and she fired off a barrage of questions. I didn't know what she wanted to be in the future - probably an attorney or a prosecutor - but just imagining her in a courtroom was draining.

”Ah, it's not that interesting.”

The accused, Tokunaga-san, gently deflected the question.